topper? >> here's the deal. we're looking at a yellow alert tomorrow for the rain to our west and then the ice and snow will be a red alert on sunday. so this is where the winter precipitation is now along the ohio river, but this is all rain in kentucky and also in west virginia. this is what's heading our way. you're okay the next few hours, but showers late tonight, that will lead to a wet commute tomorrow morning, a yellow alert and then cold air moves in saturday and sunday will be snow and ice much of the day. we'll talk about that coming up. now getting back to the life of nelson mandela, south africa's president announced that news just a few hours ago. >> it comes following mandela's long battle with lung problems that have plagued him for months now. danielle nottingham has the story. >> reporter: former president bill clinton released a statement saying today the world has lost one of its most important leaders and one of its finest human beings.

south africans gather near nelson mandela's home to remember the man that led their country into a new era. he passed away after a long illness that left him bedridden for several months. >> we saw in him what we seek in ourselves. >> reporter: mandela was born into approved family in 1918 and grew up to become a lawyer, but in the '50s and '60s he became active in the movement against apartheid in south africa. he was convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government and sentenced to life in prison on south africa's infamous robin island. after 27 years in prison mandela was freed. >> i cherish the idea of a new south africa. >> so help me god. >> reporter: he became south africa's first black president and crafted a new constitution. he won the nobel peace prize

and traveled the world repairing south africa's image and promoting tolerance. he retired from public life but continued to meet with dignitaries from around the world at his home. >> he achieved more than could be expected of any man. >> reporter: in june he was rushed to the hospital suffering from a recurring lung infection he first contracted in prison. he eventually went home but remained in critical condition. administration officials say president obama will attend mandela's state funeral and is expected to deliver remarks. live in washington danielle nottingham, now back to you. >> thank you. as the news spread today a few folks here in town have made their way down to the south african embassy to pay their respects tonight. we have the story live from there. >> reporter: you saw at 6:00 the crowd a little bigger now, more and more people started to come out to pay tribute outside

the south african embassy where the statue of nelson mandela that was dedicated here in the you see more people out here. we've seen the entire spectrum of people, people of all races and ages and backgrounds, couples come out, mothers and fathers bringing their children out here, some folks actually in tears, a lot of folks at a loss for words. so we've really seen a good mix of just about everyone, people out here laying flowers down, setting candles up. we've seen folks taking pictures. 1 man told me he actually grew up in south africa, born and raised there. he's now a resident of the states. he said we lost a great man today, the world lost the greatest man. that's why folks are really just beginning to come out here. we compact a lot more throughout the night right here on mass avenue where tens of thousands of cars drive by every single day and see this statue. it's an exact replica of the

statue that stands outside the prison where mandela was held for 27 years fighting for ideals like freedom and equality. so certainly expecting a lot more people out here as the night goes on. >> thank you. so many washingtonians just want to express their grief and admiration. dr. james middleman is a professor of international affairs at american university and an expert on south africa and nelson mandela. he joins us now with more. welcome. thanks for coming in. >> thank you, jan. >> what will be nelson mandela's legacy? >> nelson mandela's legacy will be the message of fight the impossible. do not give up hope. a struggle against injustice is timeless, but injustice can be overcome. >> you lived in south africa and taught there. so, of course, many residents embraced mandela. describe for us how he changed

the political landscape there in south africa. >> he gave an uplift to south africa. i remember the days right after the end of apartheid and there were people out on the streets in johannesburg recruiting people into these white ccessionist movements. they were wearing berets and military fatigues and mandela kept the peace. south africa in those days was a turned box it. could have been a bosnia and blown up, but the outcome has been peaceful. it has been democratic. >> 1 thing nelson mandela is certainly known for are all of his quotes and one of my favorites is this one. if there are dreams about a beautiful south africa, there are also roads that lead to their goals. two of those roads could be named goodness and forgiveness. forgiveness is certainly

something that nelson mandela has done a lot in his life. how so? >> well, he came to it through years of reflection in the struggle. went underground. then he was imprisoned and imprisoned he had 27 years to talk to colleagues, to deal with others who were in prison. he got to know his warders. these were africaners, the oppressors. he got to know their lives and there was tremendous compassion that came out. he knew what he missed. he said more than anything he missed seeing children. there were no children in the prison on robin island. the warders' children were kept on the other side of the island. he said more than anything, he missed nourishing. so he struggled for the right to garden because he wanted to raise plants. he wanted to see things grow. it was years of struggle and

robin island was called university because people read. they studied. they reflected. this is what brought him to forgiveness. >> interestingly he forgave those who imprisoned him because he realized he was still a prisoner if he couldn't forgive which i thought was such a poignant moment. someone who was a historian and studied mandela, how will he rank do you think in the pantheon of world leaders? >> way up at the top. if one had to elect a president of the world some years ago, who would have been elected? it would have been nelson mandela. surveys have been taken in different countries, denmark, germany, other parts of the world asking young people who are your heroes? and only one person who was a politician came out in the top 10. that was nelson mandela. the rest were all entertainers. they were singers, dancers,

athletes, but nelson mandela was at the top. so he's up there with martin luther king and the other greats who fought against oppression in their own context. >> dr. middleman, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> we have much more on the life of nelson mandela at www.wusa9.com including some of his best quotes and a timeline of his 95 years. a look at some of the other top stories from today inincludg a proposal to raise rates for some of you pepco customers out there. >> and that's not the only place you might be asked to pay a little more, how much metro's general a subaru...

...are the hands that do good things for the whole community: the roenvinment, seniors, kids, and animals. that's why we created the share the love event. by the end of this year, the total donated by subaru could reach 35 million dollars. you get a great deal on a new subaru. we'll donate 250 dollars to a choice of charities that benefit your community. it feels good to be a helping hand.

everyone seems to want to get their hands in your pockets and tonight you can add metro to the list yet again.

>> reporter: i'm debra alfarone at the gallery place metro station where riders are not thrilled about news of a fare hike. >> i seen that on the news, but what can you do? i expected it. you expect that from metro, right? >> reporter: today general manager richard sarles unveiled his plan. come july if approved it would cost 15 cents more to take a bus, a dime more for the rails and a quarter more to park. the hikes woulraise $30 million a year in revenue. the board countered with five alternate fare hike plans. november saw delays, breakdowns, frustration and this. >> i know that commute for our red line riders has been really bad. >> was that basically to get them ready for this fare increase? >> the reason i apologized to the riders was because we did not do as well as we should have in responding to those incidents. >> reporter: trough says they'll have several public hearings before making decisions and once they do

those rate increases aren't going to take place until july. at gallery place debra alfarone, wusa9 news. >> earlier this week we learned the opening date for metro's silver line is being pushed back to next spring. the first phase of the project is actually being run by the metropolitan washington airport authority, not metro. senator mark warner is calling this latest delay another in an unsettling pattern and wrote in a letter to mwaa with every additional month of delay the traveling public suffers and millions of dollars in fare box revenue are lost. i urge you to do everything in your power to complete the work as quickly and responsibly as possible and avoid future delays." the minimum wage is going up in montgomery county. county executive ike leggett signed the bill into law this afternoon. under this plan the minimum wage jumps up about a buck of year until it gets to $11.50 an hour in the year 2017. prince george's county has approved a very similar plan

and just this week the d.c. council passed a similar bill. a lot of fast food workers say their pay now just doesn't cut the mustard and today thousands hit the streets from downtown d.c. to downtown l.a. rallying for more money. cynthia butler makes 8.25 an hour at mcdonald's in d.c. and says hey, i've got two kids and that's just not enough. >> i need this to happen because my kids deserve a better life than i have. >> protesters want the federal minimum wage raised from the current 7.25 an hour to 15 bucks, but critics argue that would simply force a lot of restaurants to cut jobs. montgomery county schools are ready to give pink the boot, pink milk that is. according to the blog bethesda now the school system will no longer offer strawberry milk when kids come back from winter break january 5th. parents groups raised concerns about sugar content and the use of high fructose corn syrup and

red dye no. 40. tracking weather with an hour by hour forecast, wusa9 first alert weather. >> chocolate milk did not bite the dust as well. >> home not. >> that's the only way i could drink it as a kid, by the way. >> i don't like it either, terrible stuff. >> only with oreos. >> or with lucky charges. >> okay, with cereal, yeah. >> we're big milk drinkers. 1 time my wife was checking out, we used to drink 7-gallons a week and they're like how many in your family and there were just four of us. >> 7 gallons a week? that's a lot. >> milk, not a cavity ever. >> does a body good. >> yellow alert tomorrow, red alert sunday for snow and ice. let's start with a live look outside, our live michael and son weather cam, 69 the high today, still 63, almost eerily warm and, in fact, sometimes when it's this warm at this time of year, you think severe weather. that's not the case thankfully in term of spring severe weather, but winter severe weather is on the way sunday.

63 now, relative humidity 81%, winds still south, southwest at 8. there's the snow and ice to the west, st. louis back down to north of little rock. this is all rain in kentucky headed for west virginia. good news is it's snow in st. louis. the bad news is there's a ribbon of ice south of st. louis extending back into oklahoma. this is all marching very slowly but steadily off to the east. we have showers back in the mountains. i think they'll get in here around 11:00, 12:00 tonight, nothing crazy heavy overnight, but we have a wet commute tomorrow going and coming home, thus a yellow alert day. look at temps, 5 below in bismarck now, 24 in chicago, we're sitting at 63, temperatures 9 below in casper and 11 below in great falls. the same cities that had the ice storm today or yesterday were also in the 60s before it hit. it is possible it's coming. 43 now in buffalo, 63 for us,

66 in raleigh. closer to home 63 in fairfax and reston, 63 in bethesda. what's going to happen is the temperature at midnight will be the high for friday. don't dress for the upper 50s. dress for the 40s because temps will fall throughout the day. yellow alert friday, red alert sunday, wet commutes friday and turning cooler. saturday cold air moves in, pretty decent day, though, and then sunday morning snow and a mix and it's going to stay a mix all day. we're not going to get above freezing from the district north and west all day. that will take until sunday night. so for tonight mostly cloudy, quite mild, shower possible, lows only 55 to 60. winds will kick and become northwest 10 to 15. look at the temps, 59 to start. they fall by 1 p.m. only 51 with showers and rain. next three days, okay saturday, 46, red alert sunday, snow to a mix, temperatures struggling to

get above freezing and they won't during the day. next seven days monday morning we should be okay for the commute, temperatures back up around 50. then tuesday we got more rain, possibly ending in snow or snow flurries, highs inthe low 40s and low 40s wednesday and upper 30s on thursday. so kind of a mess with the redskin game and ravens game. >> you got to wonder what the attendance will be like. >> you really do have to wonder that. >> all kinds of reasons why you don't want to go see that, right? we want to take a moment to thank all of you who helped with our big push to give joy yesterday. we focused on two of the groups we're helping with our virtual joy drive this holiday season. our goal, to buy all the presents on the wish lists for the children at opportunities for growth housing in prince george's county and bailey's crossroads community shelter in fairfax county and tonight i'm pleased to tell you we sold out of all those initial wish

lists! yea! we updated them and those sold out, too. so in all you helped us buy 427 gifts to share with all five of the programs we are working with. you can learn more about them and still buy august, make a donation or send a card at -- buy a gift, make a donation or send a card at www.wusa9.com. click on the gift tab. a card like this reads what is christmas without seeing the joy in a child's face on christmas morning? the toys and gifts we bring you, all the joy of the season, peace and blessings. thank you for writing that. >> thank you, everybody. we are so gratified. we really appreciate it. still to come, folks, change jingling in your pocket may be giving way to something a lot more virtual at least in parts of the world. find out why 1 country

it really made the difference between a morning around the house and getting a little exercise. unlike the bargain brand,de gpendives you new fit-flex®, our best protection. it's a smooth and comfortable fit with more lycra strands. get your free sample at depend.com. back with a consumer alert as pepco asks for a third rate increase in two years. the utility wants to raise rates $43.3 million in maryland. that would break down to $4.80 a month for customers in montgomery and prince george's counties. pepco says the request is justified because of fewer outages, extensive upgrades and improved performance. well, apartment at your own risk, that the message -- participate at your own risk, that is the message today from

china's government about bit coins. today china banned its banks from handling bit coins but said 5th individuals could trade -- said private individuals could trade them at their own risks. more than 4,500 companies use bit coins for their transactions. as of today one bit coin is worth 1,000 u.s. dollars. people are stuck in very old habits

of using toothpaste to clean a denture. but dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can grow and multiply. polident is specifically designed to clean dentures daily. its unique micro-clean formula kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains, cleaning in a better way than brushing with toothpaste. that's why dentists recommend polident. [ male announcer ] polident. cleaner, fresher, brighter every day.

talk about giving some joy have, you seen the flash mob at the air and space museum here in d.c. this week? check it out. ♪[ music ] >> it all started with that lone cello in the middle of the museum and then turned into a full blown performance of the u.s. air force band.

the flash mob was all planned by the visitors services team at the museum. >> when i think flash mob, i usually think thriller dance, but this is a little bit of a different experience. >> different take. >> very different. >> it's festive. >> very appropriate. i like it. >> that is all for our news at 7:00. we will be back here at 11:00. russ ptacek has got his weekly look at not so savory in the restaurant alert. >> you can always log on and see us any time at www.wusa9.com. make it a great night, everybody!

"e.t." uncovers new evidence that may reveal how fast paul walker's car was going just before the crash. i'm rob marciano. the first image of the porsche seconds before impact. i'm standing at the spot where walker's car first comes into frame. "e.t." breaks down the footage we just gave to investigators in tonight's top sty. plus -- the emotional video tribute from his "fast & furious" friends and the only interview with the original film's director. >> how should they h honorim? >> he belongs behind the wheel of a car. >> plus his dire warning to pa. >> i said it's not all a movie. "gma's" amy robach back on the air after her double mastectomy and opening up about her chemotherapy. >> i have four months of chemo.

i will take it hour by hour. amanda bynes out of rehab. is she planning a new career? billions of bulbs, trees, miles of lights. >> you can see my house from space. >> tv's extreme christmas wars. the light fight is on. >> i've got thousands of lights i don't even use. i'm not throwing them away. you've lost your mind. bradley cooper's '70s perm. jennifer lawrence falling down drunk. we're first ndbehi the scenes of "american hustle." and -- "e.t.'s" britney blowout tackles the rumors. >> the craziest rumor i ever read about myself was probably that i died. now, "entertainment tonight," the worldwide leader in entertainment news. >> our paul walker death investigation uncovers new evidence about how fast he was traveling before impact. hi, everybody. welcome to "entertainment tonight." nancy o'dell is off. this video you have never seen before. and it provides the first